History, Ethics,

1
History, Ethics, Law

• Schroeder
• PSY/SPED 572

2
History of Testing

• Used in ancient Greece and China
• Used to assess physical and intellectual skills
• Darwin individual differences
• Galton
• Wundt experimental psychology
• Cattell

3
History of Testing

• Classification of Individuals with Mentally
  Retardation
• For purposes of institutionalization
• Binet
• Wechsler
• Personality tests
• Spurred by wartime needs

4
Culture and Testing

• Socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs,
  and products of work of a particular group of
  people
• Goddard
• Eells, Davis, Havighurst et al. (1951)
• Responses to IQ test items are influenced by
  culture of respondent
• Tests of IQ in the US should be selected from the
  common culture only
• In available IQ tests numerous items require
  experience only part of higher SES (40 of
  individuals)
• Basic cultural flaws in all IQ tests can only be
  overcome by selecting items from the common
  culture

5
Culture and Testing

• Culture-specific tests
• Translation
• Meanings change
• Difficulty of items change
• Verbal communication
• Nonverbal communication and behavior
• Standards of evaluation
• Cultural relativity

6
Big Questions

• What are ethics?
• Why do we have rules about ethics?
• Who makes the rules for ethical behavior?
• How do ethics interact with the law?

7
Ethics

• Principles that guide our behavior
• Used to protect interests of those served
• Ethics put forth by profession
• APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code
  of Conduct (2002)
• NASP Principles for Professional Ethics (2000)
• CEC Code of Ethics for Educators of Persons with
  Exceptionalities (1983)

8
Ethics

• Problems with ethics
• Broad and abstract
• Competition among principles
• Reactive
• Use of ethics for the professional
• Guide for behavior

9
Broad Principles

• Respect for Person
• Professional Competence
• Integrity in Professional Relationships
• Responsibility to Community and Society

10
Unethical Conduct

• What happens to you?
• Who has the power to do something about it?

11
Professional Guidelines

• Standards for Educational and Psychological
  Testing (AERA, APA, NCME, 1999)
• Guidelines for Provision of School Psychological
  Services (NASP, 2000a)
• Guidelines for Providers of Psychological
  Services to Ethnic, Cultural, and Linguistically
  Diverse Populations (APA, 1993a)
• Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay
  and Bisexual Clients (APA, 2000)
• Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas
  Educators (Texas State Board for Educator
  Certification, 2002)

12
Informed Consent

• Three elements
• Knowing
• Competent
• Voluntary
• With minors right to consent is given to parents,
  except
• in emergency situations
• in some states for health issues (e.g., drug
  abuse, STDs)
• Minors and assent
• Use written agreements with students
• Increases treatment outcomes
• Do not seek if you will not honor refusal
• Still need to inform of services
• Cannot use blanket consent
• E.g., provide services as needed

13
Record Keeping

• Sole possession records (personal notes)
• Cannot share with anyone
• Can be subpoenaed
• Does not matter if kept separate
• Under FERPA parents have right to review records
  of students over 18 if the student is a dependent
  under federal tax law
• Parents have legal right to inspect test
  protocols
• Do not have to copy unless sent directly to
  individual qualified to interpret (must have
  consent)
• Can let parents view with supervision at school
• Parents cannot access test materials that are not
  part of their childs performance record (e.g.,
  test manuals, stimuli)
• Keep records 5-10 years after child reaches age
  of majority
• Make sure others cannot retrieve files from old
  or damaged computers
• If emailing, strip of all info that identifies
  student

14
Assessment

• Parent involvement consent
• Can ethically test student without assent if
  assessment promises to benefit them
• Assessment of a child must
• Multiple method, informant, setting
• Comprehensive
• Fair
• Acculturation
• Use technically adequate instruments
• Be done under good conditions
• Include interpretation focused on interventions
  and recommendations

15
Professional Malpractice

• Harm is done to client
• Occurs within context of client-professional
  relationship
• Standard of care was breached (you did not do
  what you should have)
• Harm was foreseeable
• They always look to what other professionals
  would have done